Saturday, August 10, 2013

I Like This Guy A Lot: Nagasaki Mayor Slams Nuclear Stance

Nagasaki mayor slams nuclear stance

AP/Kyodo News

1 minute ago
By Press Association

Nagasaki's mayor has criticised
Japan's government for failing to sign on to an international nuclear
disarmament effort as the country marked the 68th anniversary of the
atomic bombing of his city.Mayor Tomihisa Taue's criticism
stemmed from Japan's refusal to sign in April a document in which nearly
80 countries unconditionally pledged to never use nuclear weapons.He said Japan's inaction "betrayed expectations of the global community".The
document, prepared in Geneva by a UN committee, is largely symbolic
because none of the signatories possess nuclear weapons. None of the
countries known to have a nuclear arsenal including the United States,
Russia, India and Pakistan signed it.Japan also does not possess a
nuclear device and has pledged not to produce any although some hawkish
members of the ruling party say the country should consider a nuclear
option.Mr Taue said that as the world's only victim of atomic
bombing, Japan's refusal to come on board the initiative contradicted
its non-nuclear pledge."I call on the government of Japan to
return to the origin of our pledge as an atomic-bombed country," he said
at a peace park near the epicentre of the blast.Tokyo apparently
refused to sign the document because of a security arrangement with the
United States, which in theory could give the US an option to deploy
nuclear weapons from Japan to counter the threat of North Korea. That
implied Japan's government would approve a nuclear option under some
circumstances, Mr Taue said.

In the peace declaration, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue criticized the
Japanese government for not signing a joint statement at a meeting on
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in Switzerland in April. The
statement calls for a ban on the use of nuclear arms under any
circumstances.

He said the government betrayed the expectations of global society. He
said the refusal to sign the statement could imply that the government
would approve of their use under some circumstances.

The mayor urged the government to renew its resolution that Japan will
never allow anyone else to become victims of a nuclear bombing and to
take clear action for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

NAGASAKI -- As Nagasaki marked the 68th anniversary of the atomic
bombing in a ceremony on Aug. 9, the city's mayor Tomihisa Taue
criticized the national government for its passive attitude toward
nuclear disarmament.In the Nagasaki Peace Declaration presented at
the ceremony, Mayor Taue pointed out that during the Preparatory
Committee for the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review
Conference, which was held in Geneva in April, Tokyo had stopped short
of signing a joint statement urging that nuclear weapons not be used."The Japanese government did not sign (the
statement), betraying the expectations of global society," Taue said.
"If the Japanese government cannot support the remark that 'nuclear
weapons (should never be) used again under any circumstances,' this
implies that the government would approve of their use under some
circumstances."Taue also expressed worries about Japan's
resumption of negotiations on nuclear power cooperation with India,
which is not a party to the NPT."Cooperating on nuclear power with India, who has
not signed the NPT, would render the NPT meaningless as its main tenet
is to stop the increase of the number of nuclear-weapon states," he
said. "Japan's cooperation with India would also provide North Korea,
which withdrew from the NPT and is committed to nuclear development,
with an excuse to justify its actions."The mayor then urged the central government to
take proactive measures to fulfill its duty as the only nation to have
suffered an atomic bombing.Moreover, Mayor Taue expressed grave concern
about the moves to revise the war-renouncing Constitution, citing a
phrase from the Constitution's preamble which reads, "Japanese people
have resolved that never again shall we be visited with the horrors of
war through the action of government."Taue underscored the importance of not forgetting
the terrible experiences of war and atomic-bombing. "In order not to
forget this original desire for peace, it is essential to impart the
experiences of war and atomic devastation to succeeding generations."He also talked about Senji Yamaguchi, an
atomic-bombing survivor, or hibakusha, who died in July this year at the
age of 82. Yamaguchi had previously visited the United Nations, where
he called for the abolition of nuclear arms, saying, "No more
hibakusha.""Listen to their (hibakusha's) voices," Mayor
Taue said, noting that the average age of the hibakusha now surpassed
78. "Please consider whether or not you will allow the existence of
nuclear weapons in the world today, and in the future world of your
children."